Those fabulous Fijians have denied the All Blacks Sevens a golden finish to their tale of Olympic redemption in Tokyo.
The brilliant Pacific Islanders, who arrived in Tokyo on a freight flight carrying frozen fish, made it two straight gold medals in Olympic men’s sevens with a thoroughly deserved 27-12 victory over the New Zealanders in Wednesday’s final at Tokyo Stadium.
It was another moment to savour for the tiny island nation after they had won their first ever Olympic medal with the gold in Rio five years ago. Now they have a second to celebrate in what will be a rare burst of positivity for a country ravaged by the Covid pandemic.
Dejected New Zealand players contemplate their defeat in the final of the Olympic men’s sevens tournament in Fiji.
For New Zealand, the Tokyo tournament represented a major step in the right direction after their Rio campaign on the sports Olympic debut had been so disappointing, with three defeats and an eventual fifth-place finish.
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The silver medal was New Zealand’s second of the Games (and of the day), to go with the bronze won by triathlete Hayden Wilde. Earlier double scullers Hannah Osborne and Brooke Donoghue had finished second in their final at the rowing.
The Kiwis had hung in the contest until the latter stages, but were always playing catchup against a side with greater weapons and, it has to be said, a finer appreciation for the nuances of the sevens game. Their strikepower and scintillating skills were in the end just too much for the New Zealanders to handle.
Asaeli Tuivuaka of Fiji scores the match-clinching try in the Olympic sevens final against New Zealand in Tokyo.
The men in black needed to make a strong start to put some doubt in their opponents minds, but instead found themselves chasing the flying Fijians for much of the opening half. But a crucial late seven-pointer to Sione Molia dragged them back into the contest, with the islanders leading 19-12 at the break.
The Fijians started impressively when ripped ball off a Joe Webber carry put Meli Derenalagi in and soon after Sireli Maqala punished Andrew Knewstubb for his inability to force the bouncing ball ingoal for the 12-0 lead.
New Zealand’s Scott Curry goes in for a try in the Olympic men’s sevens final in Tokyo.
A charging Scott Curry got the Kiwis on the board with a strong angled run looping outside Regan Ware and, after Jiuta Wainiqolo dashed 40 metres for the Fijians third score, Molia made his bullocking run right on halftime to get the New Zealanders back within striking distance.
The match hung in the balance for much of the second spell, but was decided with just over three minutes remaining when Ware lost ball on the carry and big Asaeli Tuivuaka punished them at the other end with a try that put the Fijians out to 24-12.
Waisea Nacuqu applied the finishing touches with a dropped penalty goal.
Afterwards New Zealand co-captain Scott Curry broke down in tears when reflecting on the final defeat with Sky TV. He was unable to finish the interview as the emotions overwhelmed him.
Waisea Nacuqu of Team Fiji is lifted by Kalione Nasoko in celebration.
Fiji were the better team, said Curry. Today we gave it everything and that’s all we could do, all we could ask from this group. Every day, every game that’s what we do, and we came up short.
Curry conceded the Fijians simply never allowed them to get a foothold in the game as they were left chasing it throughout.
No spectators, no cheering, and socially-distanced athletes: this is what a mid-pandemic Olympics looks like.
The bounce of the ball in sevens is huge and a couple went their way early on and they scored a couple of tries. I guess they got a lot of confidence from that and got their tails up a little bit. It was always going to be tough to fight back from that.
Asked about the bond of his silver medal-winning group, Curry added: It’s very special. There is no other group Id want to go on the road for six weeks with. We came out the other side as a tighter group.
And that was when the emotions spilled out. Close, but no gold. And Curry was thankfully allowed to go and reflect on what might have been with his team-mates.
Argentina won an emotional bronze medal when they defeated Great Britain 17-12 to earn their first Olympic podium finish.
The South Americans notched tries to Lautaro Bazan Velez and tournament sensation Marcos Moneta to lead 12-5 at the break, and sealed the deal when Ignacio Mendy scooted clear to break a 12-12 deadlock late in the second spell.
In the first session of the day the New Zealanders had produced nigh on the complete performance to down the dangerous Great Britain side 29-7 (14-7 at halftime) in an outstanding semifinal performance.
New Zealand Sione Molia carries strongly in the Olympic men’s sevens final won 27-12 by Fiji.
With workhorse forward Curry and the dynamic Ware grabbing two tries apiece, Knewstubb at his busy best and Dylan Collier mustering a brilliant strike direct from the kickoff, the Kiwis shut out the Brits with a consummate performance, dominating possession, nailing their tackles and squeezing the life out of their opponents.
It was a really clinical performance, said Curry afterwards. That first half we were so patient with the ball. We just backed our ball carries and slowly worked our way up the field, and then we finished up in the top corner. That was awesome.
Laidlaw agreed: We were very clinical both sides of the ball … We knew the attack would have to click at some stage if we were going to progress. I think you saw that.
Fiji won through to the final with a 26-14 defeat of Argentina.
